“You were,” said Andrew. “And you never left my side. Not for twelve hours.”
The room fell silent while Blake took in the information. He looked at Ellie, and she could see the hurt there. Whatever he was thinking, it had broken him.
“That means somebody used my phone,” he said. “While I was with you, somebody went into my office, unlocked my phone, wrote this post and set it to private.”
Andrew nodded sadly.
“All of these posts, somebody used my computers, my cell, when I wasn’t in the room.”
“All of them,” said Andrew. He sighed, running a hand over his beard. “Blake, it breaks my heart to tell you this, but whoever did this isn’t in Europe, they don’t even work for another company.”
Blake collapsed back onto his chair, and Ellie took his hand without even thinking. She clamped it between her own, feeling him tremble as Andrew finished.
“These hacks came from your own building, and from somebody you know.”
15
It couldn’t be true.
It just could not be true.
Blake literally felt the warmth drain out of him, his skin breaking into gooseflesh, his scalp shrivelling. He was shaking like he’d fallen into ice water, and that’s what it felt like, as if he was sinking into the cold, dark depths.
Only Ellie kept him afloat. She held his hand in hers, her warmth flowing into him. It was only because of this that he could find his way back from the shock. He took a long, shuddering breath, waiting for the room to stop spinning. Then he looked at Ellie. Her face was knotted with grief, her eyes wet with tears. She looked at him in a way that made him feel she would do anything to make this better, to take away the hurt. And seeing how much she cared did take the hurt away—at least enough for him to steady himself.
He did his best to smile at her, and she reluctantly loosened her grip, letting him go. There was a surge of panic as he felt himself slipping into the icy water again, so he stood up and walked to the window.
“It’s somebody I know,” he said. “Somebody at Heartbook has done this to me.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt,” Andrew said. “I’m so sorry, Blake.”
But who?
Maurice and Agnes were snakes, but they were loyal to him and to David, he was sure of it. They were old school businesspeople, interested only in the bottom line. They’d never do something to sink the ship. Even though Mike could be a loose cannon, he wasn’t the kind of guy who would orchestrate such a cruel and dangerous plan. There were thousands of people who worked for the company, of course, but none of those would have had access to his office, or the passwords for his computer and his phone.
Which left only one possibility.
“Michelle,” he growled. This was exactly the kind of stunt she would pull. She had always been so jealous of the way women acted around him, the attention he got, and she was furious when he ended their relationship. What better way to get her revenge than to ensure that no woman would ever trust him again?
The only trouble with this theory, though, was that he and Michelle only split up six months ago. If this was her, then she’d started posting these comments to his Heartbook profile when they were still dating.
“You really think she’s capable of it?” asked Andrew. Blake turned to face him.
“If you’d asked me that yesterday I would have said no,” he said. “But right now I think she’s capable of anything. Can you do anything from here?”
Andrew shook his head.
“The board has already deleted the posts but it doesn’t make any difference. The metadata was saved or screenshotted by thousands of people. Your profile is currently offline anyway, and there’s absolutely no way to prove that it wasn’t you who made these posts, not unless you’ve got security cameras in your office and house.”
“No such luck,” said Blake.
“Even the one post you couldn’t have made, because you were with me, would only be my word, and who’s going to believe an old hippy coder with no pants on?”
“There must be something we can do?” said Ellie.
“I’ll work on it,” said Andrew. “I’ll do everything I can.”
Blake heard a clink of china and turned to the door to see Sophie there, a tray in her hands.
“Tea makes everything better,” she said. “Ellie? Blake?”
“You are a wonderful person, Sophie,” Blake said, taking the drink she offered. He sipped it, and she was right—it took the edge off his panic. Ellie drank hers as well, the four of them standing there in silence as if this was an ancient ceremony. Blake placed his cup back onto the tray. “Thank you, as always. I feel rude for running, but—”
“Go,” Sophie said, smiling with such compassion. “And good luck.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Andrew.
“I don’t know,” said Blake, and that was the truth. He’d never felt so lost in his life. “But thank you, my friend.”
Andrew nodded, wrapping Blake in a hug.
“Things like this shouldn’t happen to people like you,” he said. “Stay positive, something will come up.”
“I hope so,” Blake said, but he was fast running out of hope.
They said their goodbyes to Andrew and Sophie, walking back into the elevator. Ellie had never seen anyone look so crushed. It was as if everything that made him Blake Fielding had been sucked out in a single breath. He looked pale, his back bent beneath the pressure, his head bowed. Even though she’d known him for less than a day it broke Ellie’s heart to see him like this.
Maybe that’s why she did it. There was certainly no logical reason for it. Her brain didn’t even register what she was about to do, only her heart, which seemed to open like a flower as soon as she’d made the decision. As the doors slid shut she moved into Blake, tilting her head up, her lips parting. He reacted with the slightest gasp of surprise, but his mouth opened and he kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pushing her whole body into him. One of his strong hands gently cupped the back of her head, the other resting on her arm.
Ellie lost herself in the kiss, in the taste of him. There was passion there, yes, but it was more than that. It seemed impossible for two people who barely knew each other, but there was love in that kiss. It was the kiss of two people who wanted to give every piece of themselves to each other. It was unlike any kiss that Ellie had ever had, and even when she felt as though she could not breathe she still kissed him. She felt as though she would keep kissing him even if it meant never taking another breath.
Old souls, she thought, and it was as if she had kissed Blake a million times before, each time as surprising and as powerful as this.
It was Blake that pulled away, but he didn’t go far. He placed a hand on her cheek and just looked at her. His pupils were dilated, his cheeks flushed. There was a questioning look on his face, but it wasn’t questioning the kiss. It seemed to say how did I get so lucky? Ellie stared back at him through the fog on her glasses.
“I’m so sor—” she started, but he refused her apology with another kiss, this one faster and deeper. It felt like a million years had passed before they pulled away. The elevator had reached the lobby, the doors open and the concierge staring at them with wide eyes. His expression made Ellie laugh, it fizzed up inside her like a shaken can of Coke. Blake laughed too, running a hand through his hair and looking like a man who has just woken up from a dream.
“Wow,” he said. “Why…?”
She didn’t know why, other than that he’d needed it. And it had worked. He was standing straight—strong and proud and full of life. His eyes were bright, and they refused to leave her. Blake and Ellie stood there, taking each other in as if it was the first time they had really seen one another.
Then the elevator doors started to close and Blake thrust out a hand to stop them.
“We should probably go,” he said. He was right, but walking out of the elevator felt like the hardest thing she had
ever had to do. She would have happily spent the rest of her life there if Blake had stayed with her.
The doorman held open the door for them and they stepped out of the cool interior into the heat of the day. The car was waiting for them, its engine purring, but Blake halted before he reached it. He looked like he was wrestling with something inside his head, and Ellie felt suddenly guilty that she’d made his life infinitely more complicated.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” she said. “It was just the moment, I lost…”
He took her hands, both of them, and held them tight.
“I’m glad you did it,” he said. “I’ve never had a kiss like…”
He closed his eyes, taking a breath. Ellie studied his lips, wanting nothing more than to kiss him again. She forced the thought away. It felt as if her heart was running away with her, and if she didn’t try to stop it now then it was going to carry her right over the edge of a cliff. If there was one thing Ellie Mae Woodward was good at, it was getting her heart broken.
“I’m glad you did it,” Blake said again. “It gave me hope. It gave me strength. You’ve done nothing but give me strength since the moment we met. I don’t know who sent you, or what brought us together, but I’m so grateful.”
He sighed, and she could hear the ‘but’ before he said it. She braced herself.
“But this is such a bad time. I… I need to be strong on my own. I need to focus on this, or it’s going to drag me down, and sink everything I’ve spent my life building.”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he was saying it.
“I’m so sorry, Ellie. Believe me, a different day, a different me, and…”
“I understand,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t hear the tremor in her voice. “I do, Blake. This is my fault.”
“It’s not,” he said, caressing her cheek. “Nothing could ever be your fault.”
She placed her hand on his for a moment, holding it tight to her cheek, then she stepped away. He turned to the car, Alfie rolling down the window as Blake gave the driver his instructions. Then he faced Ellie again.
“Alfie is going to take you home,” he said. “I’ll get a cab.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Ellie said.
“It’s done,” he replied. “I really am sorry.”
And with that, he set off up the street. Ellie watched him go for as long as she felt she could, tears burning her eyes. She watched him go until she was sure he wasn’t going to look back. Then she opened the door and climbed into the car.
16
They drove in silence, but Ellie’s mind was an orchestra of noise. The tune was a chaotic one, every thought playing out of time:
I kissed him.
He kissed me back.
He told me he couldn’t be with me.
I love him.
And she had to take off her glasses and press her hands to her eyes to try to make it stop. The madness inside her head was so fierce that she felt as if she was going to have a panic attack, and she fumbled for the window controls. The air that flowed into the car was hotter than the air con, but at least it was fresh, and breathing it in helped to calm her.
“You okay?” asked Alfie from the front. She nodded at his concerned expression in the rear-view mirror. It was a lie, of course. She wasn’t okay at all. She was about as far from okay as it was possible to be. This had to be a world record, even for Ellie Mae: falling in love, and getting her heart broken, all in the space of twenty-four hours.
Oh shush, she told herself, watching the blur of people on the sidewalk as the Mercedes-Maybach roared through the city. You don’t love him.
Of course she didn’t. It was impossible to fall that hard for somebody in such a short space of time. Ellie had never believed in love at first sight. She’d always been methodical and reasonable when it came to love. You had to take the time to make sure you were compatible, otherwise there could only be disaster ahead when you realized you had absolutely nothing in common.
Even with Josh, she’d spent weeks making sure he was the right man for her. She’d made sure he liked all the same books as her, the same music, the same movies, the same walks. She’d put in the work to make sure they were soulmates, and for so long she’d believed they were just that.
Of course, Josh hadn’t been her soulmate at all, everything he’d told her had been a lie. And hadn’t she always known it, too, deep down? Her gut had always told her that something was wrong, she’d just never listened.
But with Blake there was none of that, there were no warnings at all. They’d seemed so in tune, their souls perfectly matched. After the kiss in the elevator she’d been so sure that they were supposed to be together. He was the other half of her, and it felt like she’d been travelling through her entire life trying to find him. He was her soulmate.
Except, he wasn’t.
He couldn’t be. They came from such different worlds, it could never, ever work. He was rich, he was famous—infamous, now. He travelled the world in private jets and in cars like these. He lived for his work, he gave everything to Heartbook. And as for her? She was perpetually broke, she waited tables in a coffee bar, she was hopeless in love, and she was cursed. Her dreams would never be anything more than dreams.
Ellie sighed. Despite the sunshine that poured into the car, the world seemed a whole lot darker than it had twenty minutes ago. When she’d kissed Blake it was as if the universe had exploded, a supernova of emotion blasting through her. She’d never had a kiss like that before, not once, not even the first time she’d kissed any of her previous boyfriends—although admittedly there hadn’t been many of those. With her exes, there had always been a moment of hesitation, of self-doubt. Should I be kissing him? Am I kissing him right? Does he really like me? But with Blake there had been nothing in her head but him. She’d kissed him because she could think of literally nothing else, and nothing else truly mattered, and if that wasn’t love, then what was?
But this, too, had to be a lie, didn’t it? Because Blake had told her they couldn’t be together. She’d met him at one of the most difficult times in his entire life, where events made it impossible for them to start a relationship. If they were meant to be soulmates, then surely life would have given them that chance.
Besides, no matter how much it hurt, Blake had done the right thing. He’d put everyone else before himself. He’d pushed her away so that he could save his company, and prevent the people who worked for him from losing their jobs. He’d sacrificed his own happiness, he’d done what was truly important.
And that only made Ellie care for him even more.
“Here we go,” said Alfie, as the car slowed to a halt. Ellie blinked against the sun and saw her street, her building dead ahead. She’d been so lost in Blake—again—that she hadn’t realized how close they were. She reached for the door but the driver was already outside, opening it for her.
“Thank you,” she said as she climbed out. She’d taken a few steps before she turned around. “Alfie, if you see Blake, can you tell him I understand?”
The man nodded to her.
“You might understand,” he said as he closed her door. “But I don’t think he does.”
He climbed back into the car and drove away before Ellie thought to ask what he meant. Sighing again, she pushed through the door into the lobby of her apartment block, jabbing the button for the elevator. Nothing happened, so she traipsed up the stairs instead. Everything seemed so flat, the sounds muted, the colors pale. It felt almost as if when she and Blake had parted she had lost a piece of herself, the piece that brought the world to life.
She pushed out the stairwell door and unlocked her apartment door, knowing as soon as she smelled coffee brewing that she wasn’t on her own. Seeing Josh was the last thing she felt like doing, but where else was she supposed to go? At least here she could disappear into her room and cry away the rest of the day. If she was quick, she might even get there before he spotted her.
�
�Ellie?”
No such luck.
She closed the door behind her. Josh was standing in the living room, by the window, his arms folded over his chest.
“Whose car was that?”
“Are you spying on me?” she asked, walking into the kitchen area and pouring some water into a glass. She took a deep sip, but it did little to make her feel better.
“You wish,” he spluttered. “I was just admiring the view when that monstrosity pulled up to the curb. Let me guess, it’s something to do with that Blake person? I knew there was something going on there.”
“That’s none of your business, Josh,” she said. “Blake’s just a friend.”
“Sure,” he sneered. “You looked pretty cosy for friends. Ask me, he got what was coming to him when that drink was poured over his head.”
“Nobody asked you,” she shot back, slamming her glass on the counter. “For your information he was interested in LifeWrite, he thinks it has potential. That’s why we were meeting.”
It was a lie, of sorts, but at least it would stop Josh’s stupid questions. He unfolded his arms, his face wrinkling.
“He’s interested in that?” he said. “Your half-baked social media idea? Come on, Ellie, I know you’re naïve, but just think about it. Haven’t you heard the news, haven’t you seen the things he posted? The man is a complete sexist pig, he has no idea how to treat a lady. He was just using you.”
Ellie felt her blood boiling, her head whistling like there was steam coming out of her ears. She was so angry her fists were clenched, and she had to force herself to relax her hands.
“Why don’t you think he would be interested?” she asked, meeting Josh’s eye and holding it. She thought of Blake, of the way he had spoken to her as an equal, of the way he had praised her ideas. It gave her the strength to continue. “You never believed in me, you never thought it would work. But I’m smart, Josh. You did your best to convince me otherwise but you know it as well as I do. I’m smarter than you.”
My Antisocial Billionaire: A Clean Billionaire Romance (My Billionaire A-Z Book 1) Page 9
